While accurate information can be difficult to get out of this notoriously secretive regime, there are reportedly over 240 people trapped underground in Iran’s second largest nuclear facility.

Iranian officials out of Tehran believe the explosion was the result of sabotage.

Rumors of this being pulled off by Israel are already circulating. Israel has been an outspoken opponent of Iran becoming nuclear capable, and in 1981 Israel was able to dismantle Iraq’s nuclear program through a bombing raid — known as Operation Opera – on largely centralized, above ground facilities.

Our contributor, Jason Blair, and The Brenner Brief have been questioned via social media today regarding the validity of this story. We stand behind the story, as other news outlets had then and have now reported on it. Of course, we do not have any direct assets in Iran, as only the government would in that closed society. However, several outlets, including reputable direct sources listed in those other stories, have proclaimed that this explosion did indeed take place and that a bombing, or sabotage, of some sort did occur.

So the question is, why isn’t the mainstream media reporting on the Iran bombing story? We have been asked this question in a manner to suggest that because the “MSM” isn’t reporting on it, it cannot be true. Perhaps this is the first story where we have truly done as our slogan suggests: “The Brenner Brief — rendering the mainstream media useless.”

We asked Blair his opinion on the MSM’s failure to report on this. We are not supporting a conspiracy theory and neither is Blair; however, we are thinking through the various reasons why this complete avoidance of the topic by mainstream media could be possible. Blair’s thoughts on the issue are as follows:

If the report is accurate, the explosion would have happened on Inauguration day. The media was focused on that and this topic really didn’t jive with what Obama was looking to push in his inaugural address.

Chuck Hagel, who is being floated for Secretary of Defense, is perceived as being weak on Iran. With this news coming so close to his confirmation there may be a push to try to hold it back from the public. At the same time, I would think those seeking to block his nomination would be leaking this out.